Mike Donohoe's Discussions

I sent a copy of my collection of poems and essays, Could a “Heat Death” be Necessary for Life? to New Mexico physicist and writer, Dave Thomas, written under my pen name of Kane S. Latranz. I was…Continue

I happen to believe in a higher power but do not believe in anything supernatural. I'm sure this has a lot to do with my coming to my belief as a fairly science literate, science positive person who…Continue

"And to put a finer point on it, I do not imagine that The Twilight Zone episode came on at my beck and call. It could of course simply have been a somewhat surprisingly exact coincidence. If it was to be thought of as anything other than a…"

"Right. I know there are always labels and disorders for perspectives that fall outside of a simple cause and effect view. I think there is a tendency to accept the explanation that feels most comfortable whether or not it is absolutely accurate. I…"

"Interesting. My mindset is such that I think there are patterns to things; patterns to the unfolding of reality itself. I am fairly science literate and I respect science on the whole and find it interesting, but I think there are factors that may…"

"Well said. Ever since the endless scandals of the 90s, I purposely avoid the media because it is primarily irrelevant horse shit. And I say that in a very loving and supportive way. I am a Tumblr addict, and that site has been consumed with the…"

I sent a copy of my collection of poems and essays, Could a “Heat Death” be Necessary for Life? to New Mexico physicist and writer, Dave Thomas, written under my pen name of Kane S. Latranz. I was honored when he invited me to speak at the November meeting of New Mexicans for Science and Reason about how the theoretical heat death lends to the existence of Earth and life, and how the second law of thermodynamics, commonly abbreviated as entropy, supports our existence.I'm not attached to the…See More

"I never claimed that the world doesn't have a higher power. What I did claim was: if by higher power you mean a super natural higher power...then the universe doesn't have a higher power.
There is most certainly a difference between…"

"If by "higher power" you mean following rules that are unavoidable (like gravity) then yes...a world that is a deterministic one has a higher power. If by higher power you mean one that is conscious or supernatural or a fabric of galactic…"

"Let's not confuse determinism (the belief that every event is the result of a prior event) with predeterminism (the notion that events of the past and today set forth a specific and certain and unavoidable future). Determinists allow for some…"

Profile Information

Your Religious Status

Atheist

About Me:

I am a published writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, an artist, and a rogue intellectual. I am not a Christian or a believer in Genesis as literal truth but gave up on atheism after some years. Among the reasons for this are the fact that I realized atheism was my way of allowing religious whacks to define me. There are a lot of alternatives other than Darwinism or Biblical Creationism.

Age

41-46

Why are you here?

Hopefully to engage in intelligent conversation. Is agnosticism a more truly objective stance than atheism? What's the deal with order and disorder, entropy, and complexity? Is a statistical tendency toward disorder really the only thing that demonstrates the arrow of time?

Why you left your religion.

Why don't you have atheism among the religions I left? I left it for any number of reasons, among them that it has far too much in common with the mindset of the fundamentally ill for my tastes.

Mike Donohoe's Photos

Mike Donohoe's Blog

We have met the "heat death" of the universe in progress, and it is... us?

EXCERPT "Organic cells form, reproduce, and die within complex organisms that are born, reproduce, and die, within species and civilizations that eventually result in new species and civilizations or simply carry on until they become extinct. All because stars are born, die, and are replaced, some former and current stars facilitating habitable planets and life."…

When I became interested in The Big Bang Theory, at some point it occurred to me that if there was one Big Bang, why couldn't there have been more, in the past, at this instant for all we know, and indefinitely into the future? Then I came across the multiverse hypothesis. I have two issues with this idea, first officially coined by William James in 1895. My first question is whether alternate hypothetical universes would really qualify as other universes. Whatever the origin of…Continue

Fractal geometry swept through popular culture notably around the turn of the millennium. Many have a sense of fractals as the most visual aspect of chaos theory, coined by mathematician, Benoit Mandelbrot. On some level fractals and other aspects of chaos theory seem difficult if not impossible to exactly pin down, even by many scientists, yet intuitively the essence is easily grasped. Almost any kid in a high chair notices that broccoli looks like little trees. It also resembles the… Continue

I don't have enough here for a blog of any decent length but any of you who were not aware of this fact may find it amusing. The ancient Egyptian patriarchal deity, Ammon, is known by many variations of his name. I would say ultimately patriarchal as he was believed to have ejaculated the cosmos into existence. Big Bang, indeed. =) Among his names is that of Amen. Add to this the Egyptian belief that as long as your name is spoken it sustains you in the afterlife,…Continue

Thanks, Mike. They are both Shiba Inu, a Japanese hunting dog. So, I'd keep them away from Mr. Biggles. Of course, they have only been successful in hunting crickets so far, Mr. Biggles actually may have nothing to fear. And welcome to T|A!

Hey Mike... I agree.. If I'm going to call myself anything its going to be what I am.... not what I don't believe in... So I consider myself a natural humanist. I think we haven't scratched the surface of the natural yet......much less speak of exploring its depths that its ludicrous and hubristic to the nth degree to posit a 'SUPER-natural' . Lets finish exploring the natural first before we posit anything beyond it. In light of this I'm not going to let 'religion' be my sole focus in life.
That said.. I'm certainly going to stand up when religion inpinges upon my rights and freedoms and the rights and freedoms of others.